Nevertheless, the analysts' figures are impressive (as any hyped technology's):

Businesses with less than $10 million in annual revenue are leading the charge, with 83 percent either using or planning to use Wi-Fi networks in the next 12 months, according to Jupiter. Companies with $100 million or more in revenue are slightly behind at 71 percent.

In a report issued two weeks ago, market researcher Gartner predicted a significant increase in Wi-Fi offered standard on mobile computers. Last year, about 10 percent of notebooks shipped with integrated Wi-Fi components, and the volume is expected to reach 31 percent in 2004 and 68 percent in 2007, according to Gartner.

Worldwide spending on wireless networking gear grew 38 percent last year to $2.3 billion, according to Gartner. Manufacturers shipped 15 million Wi-Fi adapters and 4.4 million base stations. Prices fell on average by 37 percent, and Gartner predicted an additional 25 percent decrease in 2003.

But then, these are the same people that predicted Bluetooth would sell...